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William Claiborne (1600–1679)

William Claiborne served as a
member of the governor's Council
(1623–1637; 1642–1661) and as secretary of the colony (1626–1634). Born in England and
educated at Cambridge, Claiborne came to Virginia in 1621 as surveyor of the colony and by
1623 was a member of the Council. He operated a lucrative trading post on Kent Island but
was evicted by Maryland authorities, who claimed the land as their own. In 1626, Claiborne
became secretary of the colony and led a powerful faction on the Council that clashed with
Governor Sir John Harvey and
eventually evicted him from office. After serving in the militia during the Anglo-Powhatan War of
1644–1646, Claiborne, a Puritan sympathizer, helped negotiate the surrender of Virginia to
Parliament in 1652 after the English Civil Wars. When Charles
II was restored to the throne, Claiborne, who had a civil relationship with the
long-serving loyalist governor Sir
William Berkeley, retired from public life. He defended the governor during Bacon's Rebellion (1676), losing much
of his property in the process. Claiborne died in 1679. MORE...

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Claiborne was born probably in Crayford Parish, in Kent, England, where he was baptized
on August 10, 1600. He was the son of Sara Smyth James Cleyborne and her second husband,
Thomas Cleyborne, a merchant and former mayor of King's Lynn in the county of Norfolk; Sir
Roger James, a shareholder in the Virginia Company of London, may have been his elder half brother. Contemporaries
wrote Claiborne's surname with a variety of phonetic variants, and during his first
decades in Virginia he sometimes spelled his name Claybourne, but in later years he signed
as Claiborne. He entered Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, on May 31, 1617. Four
years later, perhaps on his half brother's recommendation, the Virginia Company appointed
Claiborne surveyor of the colony at a salary of £30 per annum and also offered him an
assistant, 200 acres of land, and a convenient house, presumably in Jamestown.

Claiborne traveled to Virginia in the retinue of Governor Sir Francis Wyatt and arrived in October 1621. His first
task was to survey the New Town section of Jamestown, but he was soon involved in
Virginia's politics and was one of the company's officers who in 1622, following the
deadly Powhatan Uprising,
requested that the king take over management of the colony. By the spring of 1623
Claiborne was a member of the governor's Council, in which office James I confirmed him in August 1624 when appointing Wyatt
the first royal governor of Virginia. Surveying allowed Claiborne to accumulate a
considerable amount of land, including property in Elizabeth City County. After 1640 he lived at
Romancoke, near the confluence of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey
rivers, in the part of York County that
in 1654 became New Kent County and
in 1701 King William County. In
the mid-1630s he married Elizabeth Boteler, or Butler. They had four sons and two
daughters.

Late in the 1620s Claiborne explored trading opportunities in the upper part of the Chesapeake Bay and for much of the
1630s operated a lucrative trading post on Kent Island, which put him in conflict with
successive Lords Baltimore, who maintained that the island was within the charter
boundaries of Maryland. Eventually expelled from the island and losing perhaps as much as
£10,000, Claiborne harbored a long and intense animosity toward Maryland and the Calvert
family. Beginning with tobacco and fur, Claiborne built a profitable and influential
commercial network that connected the Chesapeake Bay with London. His closest Virginia
associates included Samuel Mathews
(d. 1657), another merchant, land magnate, and member of the governor's Council, and his
initial London associates were William Cloberry and Maurice Thompson, two of the most
successful merchants in that city. In 1638 Claiborne received a grant of an island off the
coast of Honduras and may have intended to set up a trading post there.

Claiborne made several voyages across the Atlantic to advance his commercial interests
and protect his political connections. Growing wealth and influence made him a leader of
Virginia's emerging political elite. In 1626 Claiborne became secretary of the colony, an
office that ranked second only to the governor in political weight. He and Mathews led a
dominant faction of Council members whose quest for land and influence produced clashes
with Governor Sir John Harvey. In May 1635, while Claiborne was at Kent Island, the
faction evicted Harvey from office. Claiborne initially emerged from that feud a much
stronger politician, and when Sir Francis Wyatt returned to Virginia as governor in
November 1639, he handled Claiborne gingerly.

Claiborne yielded the secretary's lucrative office to his rival Richard Kemp, who in 1634 arrived with a royal appointment,
and when Harvey returned to Virginia for a second term as governor in 1637 Claiborne lost
his seat on the Council. In 1640 he scored a victory over Kemp by obtaining royal
permission to found a signet office for the purpose of validating public records,
providing the Council consented, which it did. The new office reduced Kemp's influence and
income because the great seal of Virginia and its attendant fees were transferred from him
to Claiborne. Not long thereafter Wyatt relinquished the office of governor to Sir William
Berkeley. Claiborne acted as an intermediary, and in 1642 the new governor reappointed
Claiborne to the Council and named him treasurer of the colony.

The two dominant figures in Virginia, Claiborne and Berkeley contested for leadership of
the planter elite. They differed over trade policy, with Claiborne opposing Dutch traders whose presence in Virginia
threatened his own connections with London. They disagreed over how to prosecute the
Anglo-Powhatan War of 1644–1646, during which Claiborne commanded some of the Virginia
militia and made an attempt to recover Kent Island. They also took different positions on
the issues that led to the English Civil Wars. Claiborne readily accommodated himself to
the Puritans and was one of the commissioners Parliament appointed to bring Virginia and
Maryland under its dominion. In that capacity he helped negotiate the terms by which
Berkeley surrendered Virginia to Parliament in March 1652. Claiborne and his fellow
commissioner Richard Bennett, who
succeeded Berkeley as governor of Virginia, appointed a new Council in Maryland, action
that precipitated two years of intermittent warfare between competing factions in that
colony.

In the spring of 1652 the House of
Burgesses elected Claiborne senior member of the Council and secretary of the
colony. He and Berkeley remained on civil terms, despite their differences, and Claiborne
eased Berkeley's return to the governorship in March 1660. Berkeley retained him in office
for a few months, but Claiborne was too deeply implicated in the parliamentary cause to
continue as a Council member and secretary after Charles II returned to England as king.
Claiborne retired from public life in March 1661 and lived quietly and in relative
obscurity at Romancoke. Berkeley threw a few crumbs in his direction by appointing two of
his sons to the county court, and one of Claiborne's sons sat in the House of Burgesses.
Claiborne remained loyal to the governor during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, suffered
significant property losses in the process, and may have sat on some of the courts-martial
that sentenced several rebels to death, although it is possible that Claiborne's namesake
son took on that responsibility. On March 13, 1677, Claiborne petitioned the Crown to
recoup financial losses he had incurred when he was expelled from Kent Island forty years
earlier. The following July 16 a Colonel Claiborne, who may have been the father, the son,
or an unrelated person, boarded the royal naval ship Bristol to
collect eight barrels of shot for use by the county militia.

The date and place of Claiborne's death are not known, nor is the place of his burial. He
died on an unrecorded date before August 25, 1679, when his son Thomas Claiborne was
identified in a York County record as executor of the estate of "Coll William Clayborne
Decd."

Time Line

August 10, 1600
- William Claiborne is baptized in Crayford Parish, in Kent, England.

May 31, 1617
- William Claiborne enters Pembroke College, University of Cambridge.

1621
- Perhaps at the recommendation of Claiborne's half brother, the Virginia Company of London appoints William Claiborne surveyor of the colony at a salary of £30 per annum and also offers him an assistant, 200 acres of land, and a convenient house, presumably in Jamestown.

October 1621
- William Claiborne arrives in Virginia in the retinue of Governor Sir Francis Wyatt.

Autumn 1622
- Following a deadly attack by Virginia Indians, William Capps, William Claiborne, and other Virginia Company officers request that the king take over management of the colony.

Spring 1623
- William Claiborne is a member of the governor's Council.

August 1624
- James I confirms William Claiborne's position on the governor's Council when appointing Sir Francis Wyatt the first royal governor of Virginia.

1626
- William Claiborne becomes secretary of the Virginia colony, an office that ranks second only to the governor in political weight. He and Samuel Mathews lead a dominant faction of Council members whose quest for land and influence produces clashes with Governor Sir John Harvey.

1634
- William Claiborne yields the office of secretary of the Virginia colony to his rival Richard Kemp, who arrives in Virginia with a royal appointment.

May 1635
- While William Claiborne is at Kent Island, a faction of Council members to which he belongs decides to evict Governor Sir John Harvey from office.

1637
- William Claiborne loses his seat on the governor's Council.

1638
- William Claiborne receives a grant of an island off the coast of Honduras and possibly intends to set up a trading post there.

November 1639
- Sir Francis Wyatt returns to Virginia as governor.

1640
- William Claiborne obtains royal permission and consent of the governor's Council to found a signet office for the purpose of validating public records. The new office reduces the power of Claiborne's rival, Richard Kemp, secretary of the colony.

1642
- Governor Sir William Berkeley reappoints William Claiborne to the governor's Council and names him treasurer of the colony.

1644–1666
- During the Anglo-Powhatan War, William Claiborne, a member of the governor's Council and treasurer of the colony, commands some of the Virginia militia.

March 12, 1652
- Supported by a Parliamentary fleet, Richard Bennett, William Claiborne, and Edmund Curtis accept Virginia's bloodless capitulation at Jamestown. Two weeks later they obtain the surrender of Maryland's leaders as well.

Spring 1652
- The House of Burgesses elects William Claiborne senior member of the governor's Council and secretary of the colony.

March 1660
- William Claiborne, despite being a supporter of Parliament and the Puritans, helps ease the return to the governorship of Sir William Berkeley just prior to Charles II's return.

March 1661
- William Claiborne, a supporter of Parliament and the Puritans, retires from public life not long after Charles II returns to England as king.

1676
- William Claiborne remains loyal to Governor Sir William Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion and suffers significant property losses in the process.

March 13, 1677
- William Claiborne petitions the Crown to recoup financial losses he incurred when he was expelled from Kent Island forty years earlier.

July 16, 1678
- A Colonel Claiborne, who may be William Claiborne, his son, or an unrelated person, boards the royal naval ship Bristol to collect eight barrels of shot for use by the county militia.

August 25, 1679
- Thomas Claiborne, the son of William Claiborne, is identified in a York County record as executor of his father's estate. His father died sometime before this date.